Department of Health and Social Care

Environmental Health: Coronavirus

lord greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what the role is in the COVID-19 testing, tracing and isolating system of local authority Environmental Health Departments and their staff who are ordinarily engaged in such work, particularly in District Councils in two-tier areas.

lord bethell: Following a request from NHS Test and Trace, local authorities have produced Local Outbreak Plans that detail how they will manage an outbreak in their area. We would expect that those plans would include the role that Environmental Health Departments take already in outbreak management. Environmental Health Departments also have a role in supporting the need for surge capacity.

Mental Health Services

the earl of sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many referralshave been made to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services in the last six months; how many appointments have been made for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services in the last six months; and how these figures compare to the same period last year.

lord bethell: The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) data requested are shown in the following table:  IAPT ReferralsIAPT AppointmentsOctober 2019 – March 2020834,9783,543,965October 2018 – March 2019841,0063,377,787 Source: Psychological Therapies: reports on the use of IAPT services, NHS Digital

NHS and Social Services: Parking and Public Transport

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatassessment they have madeof the cost of granting (1) free parking, and (2) free public transport, to (a) NHS, and (b) care, workers.

lord bethell: An assessment has been made of the cost of granting free parking to the National Health Service. The assessment has been done using the most current figures available from the ERIC Estates Return Information Collection data 2018-19 with this figure being £86.2 million per annum. No assessment has been made by the Department on the cost of providing free parking to care workers and free public transport to NHS and care workers. This does not fall under our remit.

Coronavirus: Children

lord jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children have been recorded as having contractedCOVID-19 in 2020 to date.

lord bethell: As of 7 August 2020 in England, 10,471 COVID-19 cases were recorded for children and young people aged 19 and under.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date theCOVID-19 lockdown began in the UK; and under what circumstances they would impose a similar such lockdown in the future.

lord bethell: The Government implemented restrictions and behavioural advice throughout March. Self-isolation guidance was published online at GOV.UK on 12 March. The statement of 16 March, Official Report, columns 1347-1349, advised those who had symptoms and those who lived in a house with someone with symptoms, to stay at home for 14 days.On 16 July, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care outlined that we are moving from blanket national measures, to targeted, local measures, supported by the NHS Test and Trace system. Often this will be a very small scale, such as an individual factory, but when necessary we will also act on a broader basis as we have done in Leicester. However, in the event that local response is not sufficient to contain outbreaks and prevent the virus returning to general circulation, the Government remains ready and prepared to act rapidly and implement a national lockdown if deemed necessary to protect lives and the National Health Service.

Coronavirus: Quarantine

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government how self-isolation is enforced in England; and what checks are carried out to ensure that those who are required to self-isolate do so.

lord bethell: Given the high levels of compliance we have seen to date with the self-isolation guidance, we expect that the majority of people will continue to do the right thing and abide by these measures.However, we will take enforcement action against the minority of people who endanger the safety of others in breaching the self-isolation requirement for those arriving into England from non-exempt countries. Those who fail to comply with the mandatory conditions could face enforcement action. A breach of self-isolation would be punishable with a £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England or potential prosecution and unlimited fine. Self-isolation is enforced in communities by local police. Border force will undertake spot checks at the border and may refuse entry where the individual is neither a British citizen nor a non-British citizen resident in the United Kingdom and refuses to comply with these regulations. Failure to complete the contact locator form is punishable by a £100 fixed penalty notice.